Power Shift
by PendulumDeath
Summary: Nothing could have foretold the shift in power that was about to occur between two of the strongest forces in Tokyo, one of them being Heiwajima Shizuo, a man with a short fuse and inhuman strength, while the other was Orihara Izaya, an Information Broker who claimed to love all of humanity; except Shizuo of course. ( Izaya/Shizuo )
1. Chapter 1 - Enigma

It was a day like any other, nothing about it foretelling the shift in power that was about to occur between two of the strongest forces in Tokyo. One of them was Heiwajima Shizuo, a man with a short fuse and inhuman strength, while the other was Orihara Izaya, an Information Broker who claimed to love all of humanity, except Shizuo of course, because Ikebukuro's beast was not human after all, at least not in the Informant's eyes.

"IZAAAYAAAA!" roared Shizuo, the people around him quickly making themselves scarce.

It was common knowledge that when Heiwajima Shizuo ran into Orihara Izaya, public property would get damaged and/or destroyed, along with anyone who happened to stray within the path of these two terrifying forces of nature.

Izaya immediately turned around and assumed a defensive position, the flickblade he swiftly pulled out of the pocket of his fur-trimmed jacket poised to attack at a moment's notice. "Shizu-chan, fancy seeing you here," he said, his mouth set into his signature smirk that he knew Shizuo hated with a fiery passion.

"Cut the crap, I'm not in the mood for your shit today," said Shizuo and took a drag from the cigarette. For once his day at work had gone well, not having to bash anyone's head into a wall in order to get them to pay their debts. It had actually gotten to the point where his name alone was sometimes enough to scare people into paying. He couldn't decide whether that was good or bad, but he didn't have to break bones as often as before, and that was a good thing.

"But Shizu-chan, I go where I'm needed, and my work requires me to be here today. Some of us have serious jobs, you know?" said Izaya innocently.

"And what job is that, hah? Screwing up people's lives? Everyone knows you're a little shit who'd sell his mother for the right price," said Shizuo, his eyes darting around for something that he could use to squash the insect into the ground.

Izaya sighed. "Now I'm offended Shizu-chan. Is your opinion of me that low?" he asked, his expression taking on an air of mock-hurt.

"No, my opinion is actually lower than that. Don't kid yourself flea, you are scum, and I will dispose of you."

"Oh my, Shizu-chan is using such fancy words! Don't try too hard, ne? Your protozoan brain might explode from the sheer effort of trying to sound smart when you obviously aren't," chirped Izaya.

"Shut the fuck up, flea! I warned you to stay out of Ikebukuro," growled Shizuo, eyes burning with rage behind his purple-tinted sunglasses. No matter how many times he kicked the bastard's ass it never seemed to be enough. Izaya was a disgusting insect, and Shizuo had no plans of ever giving up on trying to snuff its life once and for all. The flea was a menace to every inhabitant of Ikebukuro, and Shizuo was not about to let this plague called Orihara Izaya run amok on his territory.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Shizu-chan, but Ikebukuro does not belong to you," said Izaya, his comment followed by a string of giggles.

Shizuo was done talking. "KILLKILLKILL!" he said before breaking his cigarette in two and dashing towards Izaya, the man turning around and running in the opposite direction. Izaya had always been fast, which made him really hard to catch, but Shizuo never let that stop him. It had been hard in the beginning, back when they were still in high school, when he wasn't used to the flea's fighting style, but the more time passed the better Shizuo got at chasing the bastard out of Ikebukuro. His dodging skills had also improved over time, the years of practice he had from avoiding getting slashed by Izaya turning him into a proficient fighter. Even without his strength Shizuo was confident that he could kick the flea's ass back to Shinjuku any time he wanted.

"Ne, Shizu-chan, when are you going to stop acting like such a brute?" shouted Izaya so that Shizuo could hear him through the sound of their footsteps.

"How about you stay out of Ikebukuro?" said Shizuo while trying to grab a street sign in order to pull it out and smack the annoying flea with it until it'd stop buzzing, his fingers slipping as the force of the momentum kept him moving forwards, the metal pipe-like object remaining deeply rooted into concrete. He only threw the street sign a confused glance but kept running, not exactly giving the failed attempt much thought.

"Aren't you tired of chasing me around?" asked Izaya, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. He was hoping not to run into the brute but it was a risk he was willing to take in order to get the information he needed. The businessman who had hired him was willing to pay a hefty amount of money, his only condition being to get the job done in less than a week; Izaya wasn't about to lose that much money because of an idiotic brute.

Shizuo grit his teeth in annoyance, the bastard flea always succeeding in getting on his nerves. _What a dumb fucking question_, thought Shizuo and increased his speed in the hope that he could catch the flea and bash his head into the nearest wall until the insect would stop twitching. Of course he didn't like chasing the bastard all over Ikebukuro, but the man never left him alone, always looking for new ways to provoke him, starting from the time when they were back in high-school and Izaya always sent gangs after him. There was obviously something wrong with the flea's head. "Aren't you tired of the same old shit?" asked Shizuo, wondering what it was about him made the flea so obsessed with his person. Sure, he had inhuman strength, he knew as much, but that shouldn't have been a good enough reason for the flea to keep coming back and fuck with his life, as though getting him fired and arrested hadn't been enough already. Celty was a bigger monster than he was, but that didn't make Izaya run around and actively try to piss her off. Izaya was a freakin' enigma, and Shizuo doubted that anyone could ever guess what exactly went on in that screwed up mind of his.

"Like I said Shizu-chan, I'm here to work, so be a good sport and go home," said Izaya just before he suddenly stopped, pulled a blade out of the pocket of his jacket and threw it towards Shizuo's shoulder.

Shizuo dodged the sharp object and smirked. "You still think something like that can stop me, I-za-ya-kun?"

"How about you let me go today?"

They were both panting heavily, their chase having lasted more than they had expected.

Shizuo pulled out the pack from his pocket and lit up a cigarette, his lungs burning for some much needed smoke. "How about you fucking die?" asked Shizuo and took another drag from the cigarette.

Izaya sighed, then shrugged, his flickblade still pointed in Shizuo's direction. "This is why I don't like you Shizu-chan, I'm not that good at dealing with unpredictable beasts."

Shizuo growled, then ripped the cigarette in two again, the flea's annoying voice grating on his brain hard enough to make him lose track of what he was doing. "I might be a monster flea, but so are you."

"Tch!" was all Izaya said before he attacked. He feigned going for the usual chest slash, waiting for Shizuo to lean backwards in order to avoid getting cut, giving him the perfect opportunity to stab him in the thigh and hopefully slow down the brute enough to get away. That had been his plan, a good plan, he thought, that until Shizuo raised his leg and kneed his forearm hard enough to make him lose his grip on the flickblade. He immediately jumped backwards, Shizuo crouching down and retrieving the lost weapon with a sadistic smile on his face.

"You're nothing without your toy," he said and pointed the flickblade in Izaya's direction.

Izaya was more stunned at not having the bone of his forearm obliterated than at having lost his weapon. A hit like that from Shizuo usually meant broken bones and heavy hospital bills, along with a few weeks of painful recovery. He chuckled, not willing to show Shizuo his confusion. "You insult me Shizu-chan," he said, "that's just a quirk of mine. I can fight you just as well without it. I'll prove it to you."

Shizuo snorted. "Whatever," he said before switching the flickblade to his left hand and attacking. Izaya dodged the first hit, his moves as fluid and slippery as always.

Shizuo had never took the flea seriously in a fist fight, and that turned out to be his downfall when Izaya grabbed his fist, twisted it hard, then threw him on the ground with a swift kick to his legs. For a fraction of a second they were both too stunned to react, but Izaya recovered first, a second flickblade now digging into Shizuo's throat.

Shizuo still had the other flickblade in his hand, but he didn't dare move when Izaya's eyes were glowing so dangerously. Shizuo knew that he was strong, but he wasn't immortal, a clean cut to the throat certainly enough to end his life.

"I love it when people underestimate me," said Izaya and pushed the sharp edge of the blade a little deeper until it drew blood.

Shizuo grit his teeth and kept quiet, his survival instinct kicking in.

Izaya stared at him for a long time, a sort of creepy curiosity hidden behind the hateful gaze. "What's wrong?" he finally asked, this strange feeling that something was not right bothering him a lot more than he would've though possible.

"Huh? What the fuck are you talking about?" asked Shizuo, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The pressure on his throat relented a bit, and a few moments later Izaya gave him a crazed look that made a shiver run down his spine. For a second he thought that Izaya would push the blade in and finish the job, but the man removed the flickblade from his throat and got up.

"I win this round Shizu-chan, so how about you let me do my job while you go home and take care of that cut? Pretend you never saw me if that'll make you feel better," said Izaya before waving and walking away, leaving a wide-eyed Shizuo to stare at him in surprise and confusion. There was something wrong with the protozoan, but Izaya couldn't put his finger on what exactly that was. He would have to keep an eye on him until he solved the mystery of how exactly he succeeded in gaining such a decisive victory against the man that could've easily ripped apart his limbs one by one without breaking a sweat. Izaya could've killed him, he had a great opportunity to do so, but getting rid of the beast was not one of priorities. Shizuo was a nuisance, but not that much of a nuisance that Izaya needed to have him killed. His life would most likely be a lot less interesting without the protozoan around to amuse him once in a while. He giggled, his heart leaping at the prospect of playing some more with Shizuo and maybe kicking his ass again. Wouldn't that be humiliating for the brute?

Shizuo kept staring at Izaya from his spot on the ground until the man went around a corner and disappeared from his sight. He had no idea what just happened, never before finding himself at the flea's mercy. Izaya could've slit his throat and walked away without sparing him a second glance, leaving him to bleed on the ground until he'd give his last choked breath. That was mindfuck in itself, but the fact that the flea succeeded in throwing him to the ground was just as unsettling. Was Izaya on steroids or something? He got on his feet and pocketed the flickblade, knowing that it was not a good idea to leave it on the street where kids might find it. He dusted himself then turned around and went home, hoping that some food and perhaps a nap would help him clear his head.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Changing Situation

The next morning Shizuo was just as puzzled about the whole thing as he had been the day before. How could he not? It was not that easy to get over the fact that the flea succeeded in kicking his ass in a fistfight. The man never ceased to amaze him, in a bad way of course, and it had been an unpleasant surprise to end up at his mercy. As though that hadn't been shocking enough, the flea simply walked away, wasting a perfectly good opportunity to swiftly dispatch him into the afterlife. He had always assumed that Izaya would jump at the opportunity to take his life, but knowing the flea he probably hadn't done so because he was not yet satisfied with how much he had tormented him over the years. _I have no idea what goes on in that messed up head of his._ As a matter of fact, he didn't even want to know. If only the flea would leave him alone then his living would be much easier, but that would never happen, not as long as he had his inhuman strength. It had been hate at first sight when they met for the first time back when they were still in high school. "Damn louse," he grumbled out loud, then picked up his sunglasses, keys and cigarette pack and left the apartment to go to work.

It was a beautiful sunny day, but for some reason he was feeling tense. _It's probably because of what happened yesterday,_ he told himself, trying really hard to ignore the feeling of the flea's presence somewhere nearby, then continued walking towards the place where he was supposed to meet Tom. He put a cigarette between his lips and lit it up, then froze on the spot when he felt his hackles rise for no particular reason. _What the―_

"Shizu-chan, good morning!" said Izaya from somewhere behind him. He had been following the man since he left the apartment, and he wasn't about to waste a perfectly good opportunity to ruin the protozoan's day. It always amused him to see Shizuo's tense form each time they ran into each other, to hear those hateful words and insults because it only meant that the stupid protozoan fell prey to his taunting.

Shizuo growled, then turned around. _Ah, this explains it._ "Get lost," he said, hoping against hope that the flea would listen to him for once because he didn't want to keep Tom waiting. _Why is he even here?_ Not why he was in Ikebukuro, but why he was hanging around his apartment building.

"How can Shizu-chan be so mean this early in the morning," said Izaya in mock-offense. "It's a beautiful day," he then chirped and closed his eyes, the rays of the sun feeling nice on his cold skin. He had a feeling that things would somehow change soon. There was nothing better than a twist to the games he usually played, even if in this particular case he wouldn't be the one responsible for said twist. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't enjoyed having the protozoan at his mercy.

Shizuo took a drag from the cigarette. "Yes it is, it's the perfect day to bash your head in." If only it was that easy to catch the flea though... but no, it was hard to get his hands on the insect or to chase him away, because the freakin' thing buzzed around the place way too fast, and no matter how hard he tried to swat it away he couldn't get Izaya to back off. "You're here to gloat about yesterday, aren't you?" he asked, a vein popping on the side of his forehead. Surely that was the only reason he would show up in his neighborhood. It would've been one hell of a coincidence if the bastard only happened to be passing by, but Heiwajima Shizuo didn't believe in coincidences when it came to Orihara Izaya. The insect planned everything. He looked at Izaya, the serene expression on the louse's face making him want to punch him as hard as possible. He couldn't even have five minutes of peace in his life, while Izaya seamed to enjoy himself in every situation, even when he was running for his life. _So unfair._

Izaya opened his eyes and stared intently into Shizuo's yellow ones, his lips set into a twisted smirk. Izaya was many things, but he wasn't petty enough to brag about all the times he cut Shizuo up, or about that one single time when he actually had him at his mercy. No, he would not do that. Shizuo was still the one who chased him, not the other way around, and unless the balance of power would somehow shift, he would keep quiet about it. "No Shizu-chan, of course not," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "I only wanted to see how you were doing."

"Hah? How is that any of your business?" asked Shizuo and broke the cigarette in two. Just because the bastard had somehow won it didn't mean that something was wrong with him; if anything, there was something wrong with the flea.

"Are you feeling any different?" continued Izaya, the light of the sun giving his red eyes a dangerous gleam. _Yes Shizu-chan, get angry so that I can see you fight as soon as possible._

"KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL" Shizuo started just before he threw away the cigarette and moved to punch him.

Izaya dodged the fist with ease and ran away, hands still in the pockets of his fur-trimmed jacket. Shizuo never ceased to amaze him with his lack of restraint. Nothing seemed different about the protozoan after seeing him again, but that wasn't the impression he got the day before. He couldn't risk getting caught though, because the beast was unpredictable and he couldn't afford to end up in the hospital when he still had so much work to do. A chase so early in the morning would surely piss Shizuo off for the rest of the day, and that was perfect because he wanted to see him lose his temper. _Just not on me._ "Ne, Shizu-chan, aren't you going to be late for work?" he shouted and hoped that the protozoan would stop chasing him.

"Killing you takes priority," he growled, then cursed when Izaya increased his speed. Tom could wait for a few more minutes, because getting rid of the pest was far more important when the safety of Ikebukuro was at stake.

Izaya chuckled but said nothing, his mind set on losing Shizuo as soon as possible so that he could go on to observe the beast from afar. Then an idea popped into his head and he changed direction, surprising Shizuo in the process because he usual ran towards Shinjuku when he was being chased instead of going towards Ikebukuro's center.

"Flea, what are you doing?"

Izaya just laughed and kept running, knowing exactly what he had to do in order to get rid of the brute. He kept running for a long time, and just when he was starting to worry that he might not find the man, he heard Tom's voice from somewhere on his right.

"Shizuo!" shouted the man after his bodyguard passed him by at the speed of light. "SHIZUO!"

This time Shizuo stopped, because as much as he despised the flea, it was rude to make Tom wait for him when they had so much work to do, especially after running into the man. He grit his teeth in frustration and watched as Izaya disappeared around a corner, wishing he had superhuman speed instead of strength so that he could catch him and beat him to a bloody pulp. "Sorry about that," he said once he stopped in front of Tom.

"No problem. Sorry for spoiling your fun," said Tom in an amused tone.

Shizuo lit up a cigarette, the simple act of smoking helping him relax just a tiny bit. "He was waiting for me or something when I left my apartment today."

Tom laughed.

"It's not funny!" Shizuo snapped, the whole thing pissing him off so much that he felt the sudden need to punch a wall or something. As though showing up in Ikebukuro wasn't bad enough, now the flea probably found it entertaining to stalk him. Even for the flea this was on a whole new level of fucking disturbing. He could still feel him, no, smell the bastard's stench, which meant that he was still somewhere nearby and that made Shizuo's whole body tremble in rage. As soon as work was over he would track down the flea and murder him, slowly and painfully, then throw away his corpse into a dumpster because that's where the asshole belonged.

Tom sighed. "Can't you simply ignore him? The only reason he keeps coming back is because he always gets a reaction out of you," he said, because if Shizuo couldn't see it then the man was blind.

Cigarette hanging loosely between his lips, hands in the pockets of his pants, Shizuo started walking away knowing that Tom would follow. "I know that," he grumbled, "but when I see him I lose it."

"I guess he is somewhat annoying, but really, you should try to ignore him once in a while," Tom tried again, even though he knew that Shizuo would never follow his advice. "He'll probably stop coming after you then."

"Look, I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face from the moment I met him, so no, I can't ignore him when all I wanna do is bash his head in." Normal people could never understand how he felt when that blind rage took over, how he couldn't control himself, especially when it came to Izaya, that slippery bastard making him see red.

Tom sighed again but didn't say anything else.

Shizuo stayed calm most of the day ― as calm as one with his anger issues could stay ― but he couldn't shake off the strange feeling that the flea was following him.

Which happened to be true. Izaya was an Information Broker who bought and sold information, and as such he had to find out what was different about the protozoan because such information would be valuable. Shizuo had never before lost in fistfight, and Shizuo never hit him without breaking something, so following that line of thought brought the conclusion that either something was wrong with Ikebukuro's beast or that the day before had been a fluke, an anomaly. Izaya would've liked to believe that he had won because he was stronger, but he wasn't delusional enough to think that he could beat Shizuo. Ah, but Shizu-chan was being quite calm for a beast and it was frustrating to wait so long to see the man lose it. He sighed and hid behind a corner to watch Shizuo stand in front of someone's apartment looking menacing while Tom was trying to explain why it was in his best interest to pay his debts to the man who was stupid enough to open the door.

"Katashi-san," said Tom, the usually calm man starting to lose his patience, "it only makes sense that if you borrowed money then you have to pay them back."

The burly man, whose name was apparently Katashi, snorted and moved to close the door in their faces.

Izaya's eyes glowed, knowing what was about to happen.

Shizuo didn't even bother to pull out the hands from the pockets of his pants, his right foot colliding with the door, which, against all expectations, didn't send the man behind it flying inside the apartment._Huh?_

"What the fuck are you doing?" growled Katashi and moved to punch Shizuo in the face.

Shizuo dodged the hit and punched the man in the stomach, once again failing to send him flying through the corridor. _What the―_

Izaya's eyes widened, a malicious gleam shining in those dangerous red orbs. _This is going to be so much fun!_

"Are you ok?" asked Tom, worry evident in his voice.

"KILLKILLKILLKILLKILL!" was all the bodyguard could say as he went wild on the man, punching and kicking with everything he had, which wasn't much compared to his usual strength, but at least the pain he felt each time he got hit didn't bother him because that was the same as always. _Something's wrong._ Even though he was drowning in blind rage, he knew that his opponent couldn't have possibly been stronger than he was, which meant that the problem was on his end.

Tom moved just in time to catch Shizuo as the man stumbled back from one of Katashi's hits. "You're not being yourself right now, maybe we should leave?!" he said and had no choice but to shut up when Shizuo pushed him away and went back to fighting the much bigger man.

It took Izaya everything he had to not go over there and watch such a magnificent fight up close. He watched as Shizuo ducked an incoming fist before punching the man hard stomach. Katashi staggered for a bit but recovered in time to catch Shizuo's fist, the action being followed by a knee to the blond's stomach. A normal person would've doubled over in pain, but Heiwajima Shizuo was not normal, and even though there seemed to be something wrong with his inhuman strength, the man was just as resilient as ever. _Why Shizu-chan? Why can't you send him flying through the wall of his own apartment...?_

Finally, Shizuo kicked Katashi into the wall and banged his head into the hard surface hard enough to make him lose consciousness. He wiped some of the blood pouring down his nose and proceeded to drag the man inside the apartment.

A malevolent smile graced Izaya's lips as he walked away, eyes glowing dangerously. _Shizu-chan, I will thoroughly relish your fall. In fact, I will speed up the process._ He heard Shizuo's voice from somewhere behind him and his smile widened. _You will break, I will see to it personally._

"Don't just stand there," Shizuo muttered when he noticed that Tom was frozen on the spot, "go look for the money."

Tom blinked, then shook his head and followed Shizuo inside the apartment, closing the door behind him. "What just happened...?"

Shizuo shrugged.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," said Shizuo just as he dropped the man who fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"You're not fine! I think you should go to the hospital."

"Just find the money so we can leave," Shizuo snapped, somewhat irritated about the whole situation. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have raised my voice," he added when he realized his mistake.

Tom shook his head. "Don't worry about it." Shizuo was not well, but getting out of there was more important, so he started looking for the money. They didn't usually break into people's houses, but seeing how Shizuo wasn't able to scare Katashi into paying, they were left with no other choice. "Found them!"

"Great. Give me a second," said Shizuo and went to the bathroom to wash the blood off his face. He caught his reflection in the mirror and stared at it for a bit, trying to figure out what was going on. His strength was gone... somehow. He didn't know whether it was permanent or temporary and he was confused about the whole thing, but he had a feeling that Izaya was behind it. _Why else would he ask me how I was doing?_ His fingers tightened on the edge of the sink. He had always wanted to be normal, but if it was Izaya's doing ― and he was almost certain that it was ― then there had to be a catch. His eyes flashed dangerously. _I'm going to kill that flea!_ He stormed out of the apartment, his mind set on finding Izaya. "KILL! KILL! KILL!"


	3. Chapter 3 - End of the Beginning

Izaya was happily humming a random song while prancing out of the apartment building, not expecting Shizuo to come racing after him. He barely had time to jump out of the way after he heard the growl behind him, his expression one of surprise as his crimson eyes locked with Shizuo's angry yellow ones. His first instinct had been to run away, but then he remembered that the brute lacked his usual beastly strength, so instead he smirked and decided to play a bit with the protozoan before he went back to work. "Is there something you want?" He barely suppressed a chuckle at the way the brute glowered at him, Shizuo's usual hateful glare being replaced by something much stronger. It was a miracle his opponent could still talk when the man was most likely beyond rational thought.

Shizuo's whole body shook with incommensurable rage, his yellow eyes clouded by the anger he could feel boiling on the inside. "What did you do?" he growled out the words, now convinced that Izaya was to blame for whatever was happening to him. He had many reasons to believe so, but the biggest one was that the flea always ran away when they crossed paths, yet there he was, standing in front of him, as though the bastard had no care in the world. The disgusting louse didn't even bother to pull out his switchblade in order to defend himself in case he would be attacked, which only meant that he didn't see him as a threat anymore. As much as he hated to admit, Shizuo actually felt a bit offended by that. It wasn't that he wanted people to fear him, but he didn't like the way the Informant looked at him as though he was just another insect for him to step on.

Izaya stared at him for a bit before he shrugged and smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Shizuo balled his hands into fists, nails painfully digging into the skin of his palms. "Don't screw around with me!" He was at his limit, and if the flea didn't start talking very soon, then he'd have to show him just how strong he was even without his monstrous strength. He could still bash his head into a brick wall just as easily as before. Normal people still fought and killed others all the time, and Shizuo wasn't above doing the same if the fucked up flea didn't explain what the hell was going on. "Talk!" he growled when the flea gave him a seemingly confused look.

It was funny how Shizuo didn't seem to believe him even when he spoke the truth. He guessed that in a way he was like the boy who cried wolf, because while he was guilty of most of the bad stuff happening to the brute, he was innocent of the accusations being brought to him this time, and yet Shizuo refused to believe him and instead kept blaming him for whatever it was that was happening to him. He wasn't about to complain though, because a brute with no strength meant freedom to roam Ikebukuro as often and as much as he pleased, and that suited him just fine, so it didn't really matter that Shizuo kept accusing him of something he had not done. If there really was someone behind it, then Izaya was grateful to that person for making his life so much easier by taking the brute out of the picture. Well, not quite out of the picture, but Shizuo with no strength was no different than any other human in the world. Besides, it was fun to watch the protozoan curse and cry about his lost strength. Izaya was highly amused by the way in which the brute fumed as he stood in front of him, but he wasn't about to break into laughter just yet. He put on a bored expression and sighed before trying to explain to the brute, for the umpteenth time, that he was innocent. "While I may be the one behind many bad things happening to you, I assure you that in this case, it is not my doing."

"Stop lying, you fucking piece of shit!" yelled Shizuo as his already frail control shattered to smithereens. He swung his fist at Izaya, but the insect was already out of the way before he even got near him. He kept trying to hit him, to punch him so hard that he'd cry out, but he couldn't even land a hit because the slippery bastard kept evading each and every hit. It was one of the reasons he hated Izaya more than anyone in the world, because no person should be able to be so good at evading hits. _Is this bastard even human? Of course he isn't,_ he realized, because Izaya was nothing more than a disgusting flea that buzzed around him all the time in order to make his life a living hell. He was so pissed off at him and his evading moves that he didn't even realized what he was trying to do until Izaya broke into laughter, the man's high-pitched voice grating on his already fried nerves. He turned his head and his eyes widened in surprise before he glared at the street sign that he had just failed to uproot as though it had somehow offended him. He gave it a kick out of spite and then he shot Izaya a murderous glare. "SHUT THE FUCK UP FLEA!"

Izaya was laughing so hard that he was holding his side, tears starting to well at the corners of his eyes. Seeing the brute fail so miserably was one of the best things that could've happened to him that day. "Ahh ha ha ha! If only you could see yourself now, Shizu-chan! This is priceless!" he said in-between bouts of laughter, holding onto his phone as though it was his most prized possession.

Shizuo stared at him in disbelief. "Did you... did you just record this?" He knew the flea was a horrible, horrible human being, creature, _**thing,**_ but he was still surprised to see the bastard's childish reaction. To think that he could go so far as to poison him with something just to make him lose his power, then record him so that he could gloat about it later or perhaps to post the short video online in order to embarrass him... _unbelievable._

Izaya wiped the tears from his eyes, his malicious smirk back in place. "Of course I did! What did you expect? It was hilarious to see you fail so miserably at something that you've been so good at your entire life." Izaya expected many things that day, but to see Shizuo failing to uproot a street sign was not one of them. "Ne, Shizu-chan, isn't it funny how unpredictable you are? Even now, as weak as you are, you still never do what I expect you to do." His eyes took on an evil gleam and his smirk widened until he had a crazed expression on his face. "Please do entertain me some more," he said just before he attacked Shizuo, trying to cut the man if only a little. The brute was quite good at evading though, and it wasn't that surprising considering they had been doing the same dance for so many years. He could've just walked away, but it always made him feel better to see Shizuo bleed by his hands, so he kept at it until he realized that fighting the brute was not as much fun as it was all those previous times when he had to be careful not to get his bones obliterated by a single hit coming from his archenemy. "Tch," he said as he suddenly stopped and put the switchblade back into the pocket of his jacket. "This is boring."

"Huh?" asked Shizuo as his arms fell limply by his sides and his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Shizu-chan without his monstrous strength is boring, so, so boring!" he whined, lips set into a pout. The only thing that set the brute apart from the rest of humanity was that disproportionate strength of his, and without it, Shizuo was nothing special. The man's rage was still amusing, but that wasn't enough to entertain Izaya at that particular moment in time.

Shizuo could almost feel the blood boil in his veins, and it took everything he had to somehow reign in his rage. He wanted nothing more than to hit Izaya until the bastard's skull would cave in, but he wasn't dumb enough to believe that he could easily achieve such a feat. Shizuo knew that he was at an disadvantage without his strength, because Izaya was much faster than he was, and besides, the bastard had a weapon. _Oh wait._ He smirked as he lit up a cigarette and looked Izaya in those red, malicious eyes. "Too scared to face me? Is that it flea?" he said, finally realizing that he had to use his brain now that he lacked his usual inhuman strength. He wasn't as dumb as people liked to believe.

Izaya's mask slipped for only a second, but he quickly recovered and put on a smug look. He would not let the brute see how much that question had both annoyed and surprised him. "Here I was, cutting you some slack because you're reminding me of a lost puppy now that your strength is gone, but if this is how you want to play," he said and took out the switchblade again, "then I will make you understand why you should not mess with Orihara Izaya."

Shizuo pocketed the cigarette pack and shot his opponent a mocking look. "All right, do your best, show me why I shouldn't mess with a disgusting flea going by the name of Orihara Izaya."

"Ok," was the only thing Izaya said as he used a couple of throwing knives to distract Shizuo so that he could land a hit while the brute was too busy evading them.

Shizuo was used to such tricks, but he didn't expect Izaya to attack him with such viciousness, so before he even knew what happened he was pinned against the wall, the bastard's blade digging into his throat. He figured that he must've struck a nerve if Izaya ended up exploding in such a way. It was fine though, because the flea wouldn't dare kill him on a busy street in the middle of the day.

"Ne, Shizu-chan, do you understand now?" asked Izaya and pushed the blade deeper into the skin to get his point across. He expected the brute to start raging as he usually did, to spew insults or to growl like an animal, but what he didn't expect was the sting of something sharp being pushed into his abdomen. Wide eyes darted towards it and that's when he saw that Shizuo was holding his abandoned switchblade. He wasn't used to Shizuo doing anything else besides mindlessly rage all the time, so it came to him as a surprise that the brute was capable of rational thinking in such a situation. It was no wonder that the brute was almost calm about it, because no matter how dumb he was, he wouldn't have allowed himself to get caught again, not after their previous altercation the night before. He raised his head and looked at the man, Shizuo's insane smirk telling him that there was much more to the protozoan than met the eye. "Ahh ha ha!" he burst into laughter and backed away. "I take it back, I take it all back!" he said as he raised his arms and looked at the sky. "The world is such a fascinating place, and you Shizu-chan, you might still prove to be entertaining."

"You're just as insane as ever," said Shizuo as he retracted the blade before throwing the thing at Izaya with more force than was necessary.

Izaya caught it and gave Shizuo a surprised look. He couldn't understand why Shizuo was acting like a civilized person. Just because he didn't have his strength it didn't mean that the brute should start acting like a normal person. It sort of pissed him off, but then again, Shizuo always surprised him, because the protozoan always did unexpected things. It wasn't just the inhuman strength that caught his attention, but also the way in Shizuo would react to him every time they met. _Shizu-chan has never truly been boring,_ he reluctantly admitted to himself.

"Why are you so surprised, flea? I'm not you, so I don't like to go around carrying dangerous weapons." Just because he was suddenly weaker than he used to be it didn't mean that he'd start using switchblades to protect himself. His fists would always be enough, no matter how strong or weak his hits would end up being. Besides, the flea was now the abnormal one with his inhuman speed, so Shizuo had no doubt that he could easily dispatch into unconsciousness any other person who would end up pissing him off for one reason or another.

Izaya burst into laughter again. "Right, I understand. Shizu-chan's weapons used to be anything within our urban landscape, the key word here being 'used to', but you don't have your strength anymore, which means no more unconventional weapons for you to pick up whenever you feel like it. You're now a sitting duck. Are you sure you don't need this?" he asked mockingly as he dangled the switchblade between two fingers.

Shizuo took one last drag from the cigarette before throwing it away and shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants to retrieve the pack and the lighter. "I'm sure," he said and lit up another one.

Izaya's previously malicious smirk turned sadistic. "I will break you."

"Yeah, I know you'll try," said Shizuo as he started walking away, tired of hearing Izaya yap. It was obvious that the disgusting louse wasn't going to tell him anything, and even if Shizuo could somehow catch him and beat him up, he was sure that Izaya would never reveal anything, not until he would grow tired of his own fucked up game.

"Aren't you going to fight me some more in the vain hope of getting me to talk about what I supposedly did to you to make you lose your strength?" It was both funny and annoying to see the protozoan act normal. Izaya was starting to have mixed feelings about the whole situation, because while he would certainly enjoy the newly acquired freedom, it also meant that he no longer had a serious opponent. There were Simon and Celty, but they didn't usually jump at the opportunity of getting into a physical fight with him. _Does this mean I'm Ikebukuro's strongest now?_ His eyes glowed, already liking the sound of that.

Shizuo kept on walking, not even bothering to turn around as he answered the flea's question. "Nah, I know that you'd rather die, so I'll figure it out myself." No matter how much he threatened to kill him, he had no plans of going to jail for murdering the scum that was Orihara Izaya.

Izaya glared at Shizuo's retreating back for a while before he spun around and went in the opposite direction because he still had work to do in Ikebukuro. _Why must he always be this unpredictable?_

Shizuo headed towards Shinra's apartment, dreading to go there but knowing that he had no choice but to let the underground doctor have a look at him. He'd have to threaten him with murder or something before allowing him to get anywhere near him, but if he was lucky enough then Shinra might be able to figure out what was wrong with him. He had to know what the problem was, and whether it was something temporary or permanent. He hated not having a definite answer, because as things were, he couldn't decide whether he was happy or sad about losing his power. He had always despised his own monstrous strength, but he couldn't deny that it had been useful at times. If he only lost it, then perhaps he would be fine, but he had no idea what exactly Izaya did to him, so the possibility of him being in mortal danger was very high. Sure, he wasn't happy about his shitty life in general, but that didn't mean that he wanted to die, because no matter how hard life was, there were still moments when he felt happy to have friends that cared about him, like Celty or Tom, and a family who still loved him despite his infinite flaws. His life wasn't the best, but it was still something, even with the flea doing his best to ruin it every chance he got. It irked him that Izaya kept denying the accusations, as though it wasn't obvious enough that he was the culprit. The man hated his guts, like so many others, but only he had the means to pull something like that off. It wouldn't have been hard for someone like Izaya to find something that would weaken him, because the bastard had money, and Shizuo knew that everything had a price, including experimental drugs and other such things.

He was focused on cursing Izaya to hell and back that he didn't even notice when he arrived in front of the doctor's apartment building. He cringed at the idea of having to go up there, but he steeled himself for the unavoidable meeting. They used to be in the same class when they were children, but he sure as hell didn't trust the weirdo with anything related to his health. Shinra was too much of a freak, and Shizuo could never guess what went through that messed up head of his. For all he knew, Shinra was capable of going as far as to clone him because Shizuo never allowed him to do any kind of tests on his person. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and threw the cigarette before going in and knocking on the doctor's door. He didn't want to see the man, but he knew that he had no choice. He watched as the door opened a few moments later, revealing Shinra's excited expression, the man's eyes almost glowing at the prospect of perhaps convincing him to allow him to perform some tests on him.

"Shizuo! Come in," he said and invited Shizuo inside. "Are you badly injured?" he asked, and proceeded to inspect Shizuo for any visible wounds, not missing the bruises starting to form on the man's face.

"I'm fine," Shizuo grunted as he sat down on the living room couch, then continued when Shinra gave him a confused look. "I need your help with something," he mumbled, completely unhappy at having to voice out his problem.

"What exactly?" Shinra chirped as he sat down as well.

"It's a health problem I'm having," said Shizuo, then cringed and regretted opening his mouth when Shinra's eyes started roaming all over his body like he was some sort on strange specimen just waiting to be studied.

Shinra fought the urge to rub his hands together at the prospect of getting his claws on Ikebukuro's beast. The chance to study Heiwajima Shizuo had always been one of his biggest dreams, and judging by the man's reluctant expression, his soon-to-be subject wasn't too thrilled about it; not that he cared whether the man was happy about it or not as long as he got to study him. _Ah, but first things first._ It wouldn't do to scare Shizuo away before he even had a chance to take a blood sample. "So what happened?" he asked innocently.

Shizuo's hands balled into fists and he had to fight off the urge to punch something just to relieve some of the rage building up inside of him. He took a deep breath then exhaled, steeling himself for what he knew would be one hell of an annoying conversation. "Izaya did something to me."

"Izaya? Really? Now that's a surprise!"

Shizuo was itching for cigarette, but he didn't dare smoke one inside the apartment knowing that it would piss off the doctor. He needed Shinra's help after all, and he would get it no matter what. "My strength..." he finally said in a rough voice, then stopped as he took a deep breath in order to find the courage to let the mad doctor know what the problem was.

"What about it?" Shinra knew that his eyes were most likely sparkling in excitement, and that he was probably creeping the man out, but he couldn't control himself any longer, not when he was so excited.

Shizuo grit his teeth in frustration, the idea of telling anyone about his weakness making him extremely uncomfortable. "It's gone," he finally said and pulled out the cigarette pack.

Shinra's grin widened. "Did you just say your strength was gone? Did I hear you right?"

"Yeah." _Shit!_ He lit up the cigarette and took a smoke, unable to control himself any longer, especially when Shinra was already running to get the medical kit. His eye twitched as he heard some things being moved around in the other room and he almost had the urge to run out of the apartment when the doctor came back carrying a medical kit, the man's crazed expression making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "Aren't you going to ask me anything?"

Shinra hummed, happily pulling out a syringe from inside the kit. "I'm guessing some sort of drug, no?" He grabbed Shizuo's wrist and pushed the needle into the man's arm to get some blood for testing.

"I have no idea. He didn't inject me with anything."

"I'll figure it out eventually," Shinra chirped as he pulled out the needle. He stared in wonder at the crimson liquid, happy that Shizuo was finally allowing him to perform tests on him. "If you've been drugged, then this should be enough."

Shizuo grabbed him by the tie and pulled him closer, eyes narrowing as he glared at the man. "If I catch you doing anything weird with that blood, I swear I'm going to kill you."

"Then I'm going to have to make sure that I don't get caught," said Shinra, realizing what a mistake it had been to say such a thing when Shizuo shook him a few times and almost banged their heads together, the man's cigarette almost burning his jaw from being so close.

"I'm NOT joking!" Shizuo growled and tightened his hold on Shinra's arm.

"Take it easy," said the doctor, a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead. "I value my life, so I'll do as you say."

Shizuo shoved him away and got up, his murderous glare making the doctor cower away in fear. "Call me when you find something."

Shinra nodded frantically. "I will."

"Good," Shizuo mumbled as he opened the door and left the apartment. It was like he was not allowed to have peace and quiet in his life, and he hated that. It was always something, and in this case it just happened to be Izaya again. _Goddam flea, I hate him, I hate him so much..._


	4. Chapter 4 - No Ordinary Man

Shizuo was surprisingly calm when he woke up the next morning. He knew that panicking or despairing would achieve nothing, and even though a part of him still wanted to rip Izaya apart, that was no longer an option. The balance of power obviously tipped in the disgusting's louse favor the second Ikebukuro's beast lost his strength, because Izaya still had that annoying speed and agility while Shizuo himself was nothing more than an ordinary guy. Well, not exactly ordinary, because his loss of strength didn't mean that his easily flammable anger had somehow diminished. In fact, it was perhaps even worse than before, but Shizuo could no longer punch a hole through a wall, nor lift his couch and throw it out the window in a fit of rage, so he opted for quietly drinking his milk while he contemplated how his life might change without his monstrous strength if he somehow survived whatever it was that Izaya used to poison him.

He was a bit worried about working as Tom's bodyguard without his strength, but then he remembered that he succeeded in bringing down the big guy from the previous day, which meant that even without it he wasn't so weak as to be forced to quit his job. It was true that he was now just like any other human when it came to strength, but the thing that set him apart from the average guys in Ikebukuro was that he was more versed in the art of fighting. As much as he hated to admit, chasing Izaya around for so many years served as good training, but at the same time it meant that if he was not able to catch him in the past, his chances of catching him now were slim to none. The flea's agility made up for his lack of strength, and that's why Shizuo could never hurt him the way he wanted, but with him now being just another regular human, it meant that the disgusting flea had an advantage over him, which was bad news no matter how he looked at it. Shizuo always thought that it was his duty to protect Ikebukuro by not letting Izaya sink his dirty little claws in his Tokyo district, so it worried him to think that the louse was finally free to run amok on his territory.

He growled out loud at the thought, then sighed, knowing for a fact that he was powerless against the much more agile accursed insect that was Orihara Izaya, which meant that Ikebukuro's inhabitants would have to take care of themselves for a while, at least until he figured out a way to get his strength back. If he couldn't though... _I'll cross that bridge when I get there,_ he thought dejectedly as he got up from the chair and went to wash the glass before turning around and going to get dressed. Normally he'd eat something too, like noddles, or some other junk food that he loved, but because of the things happening to him he had no appetite, not to mention that he ended up ruining another one of his bartender uniforms the day before, which pissed him off even more now that he thought about it. He grabbed a clean one from the closet and got dressed, then picked up his glasses and put them on. He had a feeling that it was going to be a very long day. Sighing again, he retrieved his cigarettes, lighter, keys and phone and walked out the door, locked it, then headed for the place where he was supposed to meet up with Tom.

He cringed as he remembered the events of the previous day and he wondered if perhaps his boss was now mad at him for leaving like that in the middle of work. That aside, he was sure that Tom was worried about him, because no matter how much Shizuo sometimes believed that he was an useless human being or monster that no one cared about, he knew that there were people who watched out for him even though he didn't exactly need their protection. He didn't often talk to his family, and even through his relationship with Kasuka grew a bit colder after his brother found out that he lost the job at the bar, he knew that Kasuka could never hate him. Lighting up a cigarette, he almost laughed when he saw a gang of delinquents move out of his way. If only they knew that his legendary strength was gone, they would've been on him that very second. He wondered if he would be able to win if he fought all nine of them, because while he used to be able to easily dispatch them into unconsciousness when he still had his strength, now he had serious doubts that it'd be the same. He pictured himself losing and actually laughed at that, the thought so crazy that he had a hard time believing it. Heiwajima Shizuo didn't know what it meant to lose against someone who wasn't Orihara Izaya, the flea being the only one who was ever a match for him. Well, that wasn't entirely true, because both Shishizaki and Simon could fight him on even ground, but he never really had any reason to start fights with them.

"Shizuo, are you all right?" asked Tom the moment he saw his employee. He couldn't help but be concerned by whatever it was that was happening to his friend, because he had never before seen him having such a hard time beating up someone.

"Morning to you too," Shizuo grumbled and took one last drag from the cigarette before he dropped it on the ground and stepped on it with the sole of his shoe, irritated to see someone worry over him. "I'm fine!" he sighed, exasperated.

Tom moved closer, his eyes fixed on Shizuo's face.

"What?" the bodyguard snapped.

Tom continued to stare, not at all affected by Shizuo's angry tone. "That's one nasty bruise you got there. Katashi got you good," he said, a bit amused, then turned serious again as he looked Shizuo in the eyes. "What's really going on?"

Shizuo scowled but didn't answer and instead lit up another cigarette. _Shit, it's this early in the morning and I'm already pissed off._

"Shizuo...?' he tried again, but the man seemed to ignore him. Sighing, he took a seat on the nearest bench and motioned for Shizuo to sit down as well.

Shizuo's eye twitching in irritation but he followed Tom's lead anyway. "What do you wanna know?"

"What happened yesterday? No matter how I look at it, something was wrong with you."

"It's nothing important, don't worry about it," he said and stared blankly at the people passing by, cigarette hanging loosely between his lips.

Judging by Shizuo's tense and rigid form, Tom knew that something was not right. He frowned, hating to bother Shizuo but knowing that he had to get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on for both their sake. He couldn't remember ever seeing anyone besides Orihara Izaya giving Shizuo a hard time until the day before. Sighing, he continued to keep digging. "We've known each other for a long time."

Shizuo reluctantly grunted but nodded nonetheless.

"So I'm asking you as a friend, not as your boss... what's going on?" he asked, then regretted it the moment Shizuo snapped his cigarette in two and gave him a wild glare.

"It's Izaya," Shizuo said through clenched teeth, " he did something to me."

"W-what did he do?" Tom asked, stuttering a bit. He knew better than to piss off Heiwajima Shizuo, even if they were old friends, or perhaps especially because of that.

"I don't know, but yesterday for example I couldn't uproot a street sign, and I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to lift a vending machine either."

Tom stared at him with his mouth agape, not knowing what to say. If he understood him correctly, then Shizuo's inhuman strength was gone, and considering how many enemies the man had, it was something to worry about. Random individuals as well as gangs had tried their luck at bringing down Ikebukuro's beast, and if any of those people found out that Shizuo was now not that different from them, they would most certainly jump at the opportunity to crush him once and for all. He was about to suggest that he take a few days off when the person he least expected to see showed up out of nowhere, his blood going cold at the thought of how things would explode in under a minute.

"Shi~izu-chan!" Izaya called his archenemy's name in a singsong voice as he approached the duo, inwardly laughing his ass off at their shocked and at the same time annoyed expressions, as though they had never in a million years expected to see him fearlessly show up before them.

Shizuo jumped to his feet and stomped towards Izaya, the insect's smug expression not disappearing even after he clenched his fist into the bastard's black t-shirt and shook him a bit. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, more surprised at the fact that Izaya allowed himself to get captured.

Izaya smacked his hand, then sighed when the brute continued to glare at him without letting him go. "I'm just taking a stroll through Ikebukuro... just kidding! I'm here to see Shizu-chan, obviously," he said, the corners of his lips curling upwards into a disturbing smirk.

"I don't wanna see your ugly mug right now, so fuck off," he snarled and pushed Izaya away with as much strength as he could muster, making the flea almost lose his balance and fall on his ass. Somehow, that made him feel better. He turned around and stomped back to the bench where he sat down, arms folded in front of him as he glared daggers at the disgusting louse. Normally, he would've rejoiced at the opportunity to beat him up after getting his hands on him, but Shizuo had the impression that Izaya wouldn't allow himself to get caught if he didn't have a bunch of knives ready to slit open his throat.

Izaya chuckled in an attempt to hide his annoyance at being manhandled like that. Even without his inhuman strength, Heiwajima Shizuo was not someone to be taken lightly. In terms of strength, Shizuo was most likely still stronger than him, but Izaya's agility was far superior, which meant that overall Izaya had the advantage, because Shizuo couldn't hit him if he couldn't catch him, and he could no longer throw objects of all shapes and sizes. It was almost too easy to bring the beast to his knees whenever he felt like it. He chuckled darkly and righted his t-shirt before he pulled out his phone and sent a message. Shoving his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, his eyes drifted over to Shizuo's boss. "Tanaka-san, I suggest you leave right now." Tom gave him a questioning look but didn't exactly ask anything, so Izaya shrugged and watched as the two men approaching the bench from behind grabbed Shizuo by the arms before they pulled him backwards and off the bench. "I did warn you, didn't I?" he chirped happily when Tom shot him a glare before throwing a punch at the man closest to him.

"IZAAAAYAAAAA!" Shizuo roared just as he punched one of the two men straight in the face, the idiot falling on his ass and tripping his partner who staggered back after receiving a kick to his gut from Tom. Turning livid eyes towards the insect, he watched as Izaya dashed away from him, and the urge to crush each and every bone in his body burned hot, even though he knew that he would most likely be unable to achieve such a feat. _It doesn't matter,_ he told himself as the chase through Ikebukuro's streets began, the accursed flea flying through obstacles as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Izaya laughed like crazy as he took a right and then dashed through a narrow alley, briefly glancing back to make sure that the brute was following him. He couldn't allow the protozoan to spoil the fun before it even began.

"IIIIZAAAAAYAAAAA!" Shizuo roared again, his unrestrained rage making him want to destroy the insect after the bastard flea dared to get Tom involved into one of their fights. It was one thing to target him, but to try to hurt his friends was an entirely different matter. Even if it was the flea, he should've known better than to mess with the people Shizuo cared about. Tom could've gotten hurt because of him, and while he blamed himself to some degree for what happened, the real culprit was none other than Orihara Izaya. His speed increased at that thought alone and he kept chasing the insect through narrows streets and alleys for a long time, not bothering to figure out where they were heading, too busy to not let the flea out of his sight to worry about his surroundings. It was only when Izaya suddenly stopped that Shizuo realized he was trapped between a few run-down apartment buildings, men with bats, crowbars and all sorts of deadly objects closing in on them.

"Those men from earlier were merely the bait," said Izaya as he swirled around, his eyes falling on Shizuo's confused expression. "Do you like my present?" he asked, then laughed when Shizuo took a drag from the just lit up cigarette dangling between his lips.

"I should've known better," Shizuo said, now surrounded from all sides by men armed to their teeth . "How much did you pay them?"

"Indeed you should've," he said then moved closer to one of them, "but you are wrong about one thing. I didn't pay them anything, I simply showed them the video of you failing to uproot that street sign from yesterday. You see, Takahiro here got both his arms broken by you; Noburo only one arm. You broke both of Kiyoshi's legs and his left arm, while Jirou here barely escaped with his life after you repeatedly slammed his head into a wall," said Izaya as he moved from one man to another. "Everyone here ended up in the hospital because of you at some point or another, so you see, it's about time you pay for your acts of violence." Turning around, he was allowed free passage, leaving behind what appeared to be a compact mass of heavily armed men. "Shizu-chan, try not to die," he added just before he went up some stairs in order to get a better view of the fight below.

The men surrounding Shizuo started spewing insults and waving around their weapons, a sort of murderous frenzy taking over the crowd at the thought of crushing Ikebukuro's beast with their own hands.

"Fucking die, mother fucker!"

"Now it's my turn to break your legs!"

"I'm gonna break your fingers one by one, bastard!"

"Your time to scream now!"

Shizuo snapped the cigarette in two before throwing it away and assuming a fighting stance, aware that the odds were not in his favor. He counted at least a dozen before he was distracted when a fist flew towards him and he had to duck in order to avoid getting his face smashed in by this gorilla-looking guy who he remembered beating up before. That didn't save him however from the crowbar hitting his side, nor the wooden bat which broke when it hit his head. The men around him stopped and stared in awe at him, because most humans would've lost consciousness from such a blow to the head, but he was not like most humans, he was Heiwajima Shizuo, and a baseball bat to the head hardly made him bat an eyelash. Turning around, he looked at the man staring dumbly at the broken piece of wood. "You just went for my head, didn't you? You know you could kill someone by hitting a vital spot in their head, right? If you know this, then you were trying to kill me, right? So now you shouldn't complain no matter what I do to you," he said and punched the guy so hard that he staggered backwards and bumped into two other guys, all three of them falling to the ground like domino pieces.

Izaya whistled. "That's Shizu-chan for you! Once a beast, always a beast. Even when he's weak, he's not actually weak," he said, then watched as another wave of humans attacked the brute. This was only the first stage in his plan of crushing the beast, because once these men finished beating him to a bloody pulp, they would spread the word about Shizuo's loss of strength, and almost everyone who the protozoan ever beat up would soon come seeking retribution. If things went according to plan, and they usually did, then Heiwajima Shizuo would eventually have no choice but to abandon Tokyo if he wanted to keep his life, leaving Izaya to freely roam Ikebukuro's streets to his heart's content. A loud crunch followed by a loud shrill woke him up from his musing and he looked just in time to see one of the men moving away from the crowd while cradling his broken arm. Izaya sneered at the pathetic display, tempted to break his other arm just for being a weakling who couldn't even handle Shizuo with an army backing him up. _I love humans,_ he told himself, _but sometimes I just want to crush them._

Ironically enough, all those times Shizuo ended up chasing Izaya around seemed to help, because he found himself easily dodging most of the hits the men threw at him. Fighting the flea had him doubting his strength as a normal human being, but the bastard was not normal to begin with, so it was only natural that he couldn't keep up with his agility. As he fought those men though, he noticed with no little amount of surprise that, compared to Izaya, it was like they were moving in slow-motion. That is not to say that he wasn't getting hit at all, the proof being his more than a few broken ribs and the huge amount of blood streaming down the side of his head, but it was still not that different from his usual fights. He couldn't make the bastards fly the same way he used to, but he was still strong enough to knock out a few of them after only a few hits. He felt a metal bat connect with his shoulder and he groaned, his battered body finally starting to feel some of the pain they were viciously inflicting on him. Finally completely annoyed about the whole thing, he elbowed his attacker in the face with a vengeance, the blow so hard that the man's nose broke with a sickening crunch. As expected, the idiot immediately started screaming and crying about his broken nose, pissing off a few of his pals who pushed him aside so that he wouldn't block their paths. "Is this all you can do?" Shizuo asked after he somehow got his hands on a crowbar and hit a guy so hard that he knocked him out. He laughed when a few of them started calling him a monster, and that seemed to piss them off enough to make them pull out their knives, a couple of them slicing his shoulder and arms the moment another bat slammed into his head hard enough to make his vision waver. Stunned by the vicious blow, he couldn't defend himself when another bat smashed into his knee, so he collapsed on the ground in pain, his body screaming in agony when something sharp sank into his back. He hissed, realizing that he had just been stabbed, the wound gushing blood the second the blade was pulled out.

"Just die already bastard! No one wants a monster like you in Ikebukuro!"

"True that!"

"I'm gonna bash your head until your skull caves in," said Jirou, still pissed off about that time when Shizuo almost killed him after repeatedly slamming his head into a wall for being unable to pay the money he owed. He raised the baseball bat he was holding, ready to deliver the crushing blow that would bring him closer to ending the beast's life once and for all.

Izaya watched quietly until then, thoroughly enjoying the show, but the moment he saw that Shizuo's life was in imminent danger he realized that he didn't exactly want to see the brute die by the hands of such lowly humans. His eyes narrowed in irritation and he walked down the stairs and towards the crowd of people surrounding the fallen beast, the men moving aside and allowing him free passage. "So Shizu-chan is human after all," he said and watched the man struggling to get up.

"F-fuck you," Shizuo said weakly, the barely audible insult making his attackers laugh, as though he was nothing more than garbage they could dispose of at a moment's notice. His mind went blank with fury and he attacked, drops of blood spraying into the air as he wildly fought to land a hit on Izaya, his desire to crush the insect once and for all overriding any kind of pain his body was in.

"Move aside! Move!" Izaya ordered the men so that he could give the beast what his heart most desired. "I'm all yours, Shizu-chan," he said, then ducked a blow just as Shizuo's fist came flying above his head, the obviously enraged man not yet realizing that Izaya was just playing with him. No matter what kind of monster Shizuo was, he still bled, and blood loss was still blood loss, the injury to the head and the stab wound to his back, as well as the numerous slashes all over his body allowing the crimson liquid to freely flow out. It was obvious that at that point Shizuo was simply fighting on instinct, and a part of him couldn't help but experience awe at the way in which the brute that was now a more human version of Heiwajima Shizuo pushed himself past his limits. The man was a beast, and not just because of his inhuman strength, but also because his mind and body didn't know when to give up. The idiots around them started to cheer him on, and that pissed Izaya off so much that he took it out on Shizuo by punching him so hard that he sent him flying into some random guy's arms who used the opportunity to hold tightly him while two others grabbed his arms in order to restrain him.

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" the crowd chanted in a frenzy, their thirst for blood not yet satisfied.

Izaya watched with disgust at how hard the men holding Shizuo were struggling to keep him there, and it crossed his mind that such people were not worthy of even touching Ikebukuro's beast with their filthy hands. "Let him go," he said, hoping that his voice didn't betray the displeasure he felt.

"Kill him already!"

"Break his fingers!"

"Gauge out his eyes!"

"Break every bone in his body!"

"Stab him to death!" the crowd demanded.

Izaya glared at them with livid eyes, their disgusting words making him want to cut them all into little pieces. He should've foreseen that bringing together a bunch of idiots would make the mob mentality emerge. **"Leave!"** he commanded, but no one seemed to pay any attention to him because they kept yelling profanities and suggesting different ways to kill Shizuo. "LEAVE!" Izaya roared, his switchblade dangerously pushing into the neck of a man who had just finished stabbing Shizuo in the stomach.

"What the hell?"

"Just fucking kill him already."

"This is bullshit, just kill him."

"Kill him!"

Izaya's eyes narrowed into slits and he glared daggers at each and every one of them who dared to open their mouths. "I don't think you've heard me right, so let me say it again. LEAVE!" He expected many things to happen, like getting insulted or outright ignored, but what he didn't expect was for the crowd of ungrateful humans to attack him. "Shizu-chan!" he called, hoping that the beast would come back from wherever his mind was wandering. "SHIZU-CHAN! Wake up and fight these bastards if you don't want to die and make Kasuka sad!"

The mention of Kasuka's name snapped Shizuo from his mindless rage towards Izaya because he seemed to finally realize what was happening. He almost laughed at the irony of the situation as he watched Izaya fight the scumbags he brought there himself, but he held it in and instead used the opportunity to free himself the moment the insect attacked one of the people holding him captive. "You do know how stupid this makes you look, don't you flea?" he asked as they both started fighting the men surrounding them instead of fighting each other.

"Tch!" was Izaya's answer as he slashed at another guy's forearm, the man immediately crying out in pain and running out of the crowd. He never imagined that he would ever be fighting side by side with Shizuo, but he couldn't deny that he was having fun seeing the cockroaches surrounding them dropping on the ground like the useless insects that they were. He loved humans, he really did, but that didn't mean that he would allow his humans to think that they were above his god. No one challenged their god and got away with it. Ironically enough, the god seemed to be making a surprisingly good team with the beast, because not even five minutes later the ground was littered with crying and cursing idiots who didn't know when to retreat. _The sight is rather amusing,_ he had to admit, because never before had he been forced to fight so many people at the same time. That was Shizuo's brutish way of dealing with things, not his.

"Your turn now to bite the dust," said Shizuo as he convulsively flexed his hands, feeling faint from the blood loss but refusing to pass out before crushing to minced meat the annoying insect before him.

Izaya giggled and stepped over a few men before motioning for Shizuo to follow. "First Shinra, then we'll talk." He heard Shizuo mutter something under his breath and he laughed, not exactly caring what new colorful insults the beast was throwing at him. "Hey, Shizu-chan, wasn't that fun?" he chirped, then hummed an indistinguishable song while prancing through the narrow alley which lead to a street.

"Fuck you!" Shizuo said in a much lower voice than he'd hoped. The truth was that he was feeling like shit, and he hated having to put up with Izaya, but the bastard was right when he suggested going to Shinra's place. "You're a disgusting, fucked up flea and I hope that you'll drop dead one of these days; the sooner the better," he added, just because he was pissed off at Izaya for once again getting people to attack him.

"Aww, Shizu-chan is being so rude!"

"And Iza-chan is being fucking retarded."

Izaya chuckled but didn't rise to the bait. _Oh, Shizu-chan, just when I was hoping that you would bore me enough to make me lose my interest in you. I hope your monstrous body heals soon so that we can play some more,_ he thought as they headed together towards the doctor's apartment. _Try not to die too soon, ne?_


End file.
